Of Book, Treasures and Butterflies
by alythia
Summary: Here, a short story of one's memories of two young brothers. What has been the purpose of Knives' actions? A Plant reflected on his past.


Disclaimer: ...Hmpt. _(a grumpy shortened version of "I disclaim the characters I used in this fanfiction. Don't sue.")_

Spoilers: ... (Couldn't find any, even after reading it for the trillionth time. A lil' canon to the anime, maybe...)

Beta: **Alaena Night**-san and **September Nobara**-san. Both are the coolest betas, I tell you! Even agreed to be co-betas for this fic. I really adore these two! _(huggles both Alaena-san and Nobara-san at once)_

A/N: Mushy at first, dark at the end. You have been warned.

Actually, this lil' ficlet is for a new multi-chapter series I'm workin on (which I haven't posted on FF. Net yet). But one way or another, it got FOUR pages too long for it to fit into the fic... The story even deviated a bit; making it complements the anime more than the fic series it was purposely designated for. Somehow... _(still has no clue how ideas kept pouring out while writing. Like, SERIOUSLY... -.-; )_

By the way, there are a couple of Japanese words in this fic.

"_Mité_' means "come and see", while

"_Hayaku_" generally denotes "fast".

Now, I present to you, a (rather unexpected) short story of one's memories of two young brothers... _(bows)_

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**_Of Book, Treasures and Butterflies_**

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Red.

The color of virtuousness. Of bravery. Of power.

_Of life. _

The color that reminded one of his reason for living.

_My sweet, dear brother... _

A fine-looking male, with a face that depicted an age between youth and maturity, but with eyes of deep dark depths that reflected wisdom centuries old, sat leisurely in his comfortable armchair, and lazily twirled the crimson red wine in its glass, gazing as its color tone shifted to different shades at various lightings and depths.

_Thinking. _

Slowly, he closed his eyes...

_Remembering. _

And let old memories flood into his consciousness.

_Reminiscing... _

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_"Naa! Mité! Mité! Look at what I found!" _

_It was a lovely day out in the gardens. The grass was green. The sky was blue. And an even lovelier child with fair light hair and translucent jade eyes was making a ruckus. _

_The aforementioned child was currently gesturing animatedly for his brother to come nearer to him, pointing down at whatever caught his eyes, beaming excitedly, eager to let his other see his new discovery of the day. _

_The brother, as lovely as the one calling for him, albeit more aloof and quiet, pretended as if he didn't hear his brother trying to gain his attention. Calmly settled under the shadows of a lush apple tree, with his back resting on the bark of the tree, he resolutely tried to concentrate on reading the new book, "Eden: A Myth or Reality?", that Rem gave to them just that morning as a gift for 'being such good little angels'. He treasured everything originating from Rem as if each thing was sacred. Though he wasn't sure if he liked being called a 'little angel'. It did sound a bit too feminine for his tastes... But when it came from Rem, it didn't sound too bad. _

_Not too long ago, he and his brother would happily have read it together, reciting every word and reading each sentence out loud. But now, all grown up, his brother had decided that reading was less fun than 'treasure hunting'... _

_"Ha-ya-ku yoo! Or it is going to fly away! Come here quick!" _

_But being the ever-loving brother that he was, his resolution crumbled and he relented to his other's pleas of attention. He slowly closed his book, safely placing it on the grassy ground, partly leaning it onto the wooden bark, and sauntered to the general direction of where he figured his brother would be, slightly cheesed off at the most recently discovered 'hidden treasure' that had made his brother bug him for the umpteenth time in less that half an hour, as he was more interested in finishing the book before dinner. The theories discussed in the eleventh page seemed very sound: that the human race was the one that deprived themselves of Eden by exhausting their own home, the Earth, of its beauty and natural resources. He was about to go in depth about this topic when his brother started whining for him. Granted, he was a little frustrated; he really, really, _really_ wanted to continue reading the book. But the happiness of his brother came before his own. Of that he was sure. _

_Feigning a face of pure inquisitiveness as he unhurriedly sauntered to his other, he thought of every possibility of what may have caught the attention of his brother. It was something that flew, right? Was it the injured sparrow that they just released a few days back? Maybe it was another type of moth? Or was it another green-colored beetle? That one was interesting, as they had only encountered it once in all the time they spent on the gardens... _

_Peering over his brother's shoulders, he concluded that all his presumptions were wrong. _

_Perched on a ruby-red geranium petal was a butterfly, the insides of its wings colored the deepest of rare indigo. The tone lightened outwards, almost shimmering white at the tips, pleasantly contrasting with the red of its background, glistening majestically under the cool, evening sun. The pale veins segmenting the wings in a pattern like paste windows of churches truly complemented the grace of the regal blue. _

_It was the most beautiful butterfly he had ever encountered in his whole life. No wonder his brother was so excited about it. His brother had been a lover of this particular genus of insect for as long as he could remember. Sometimes, he even thought that his brother had more affection towards these small creatures than for him. But that wouldn't be true; he was in no doubt that both of them loved each other dearly, more than anyone else. Even Rem... _

_"Don't you think it's just too pretty?" _

_He looked down as he heard his brother's whispers. His brother was smiling the sweetest of smiles at the butterfly. _

'_... the one that is too pretty would be you...' _

_Hearing the unmistakably soft crunching sounds of him getting closer and at last stopping behind the crouched figure of his brother, his other turned up his head to look at him, beaming happily and proudly, seeing that he had decided to join in the fun. The translucent eyes then widened some more in mild comprehension, and beamed with a wider grin. The still-standing boy raised an elegant eyebrow, and looked on inquiringly at his brother. A small question mark bubbled on top of his head. _

_Still maintaining eye contact, his brother whispered in a low, silken voice: _

_"No wonder it felt so familiar to me. The color reminded me of your eyes..." _

_He stood motionless, pinking at this brother's smile. His brother could spout out cute words when it was least expected... _

_He crouched next to his brother as he joined him in front of the geranium plant, blushing still, but a lot more fascinated with the butterfly after hearing his brother's statement. The fact that his brother's beloved butterfly had been likened to him in one way elated him. That small a reason would be enough for him; he could be nearer to his brother through the little critter. _

_Both looked on in awe at the butterfly; how the wings sparkled as they moved, how the colors somewhat shifted under the different intensity of light, how it gracefully flapped its wings as it departed in search for another flower to feed on. _

_The two brothers followed the butterfly feeding from one flower to another, quietly observing it from a small distance, lightly and gleefully pulling and tugging at each other rather frequently as signals to stop or walk, easily keeping up with the butterfly's pace. After spending their time watching the little insect feeding and flying for an hour or so, they went inside as it was getting dark—they didn't want Rem to worry—with a small promise to again look for the butterfly come morning. _

_The new book was totally forgotten, until Rem inquired about it at dinner. _

_The next morning after breakfast, the first agenda in hand for the brothers was to comb the gardens for the book _and_ the butterfly. Finding the book was easy – the one who presumably 'misplaced' the book still remembered _exactly_ where he put it. But locating the butterfly was another matter. They searched for it all morning, but no luck. Giving up, one of the brothers resumed his reading, while the other went on to hunt for some new treasures. _

_A couple of hours later, tired from reading, the child stood up from his fine place under the shady tree and stretched while yawning away his drowsiness. He decided that he was curious of what his brother was doing. He had been left undisturbed for a good fifteen minutes; even if he was glad with what little peace he got, he felt kind of restless without his brother in sight. _

_Scanning the horizon for the silhouette of his dear brother, he saw a familiar glitter of azure within some of the rose bushes of the gardens. _

'_Ah, yes! The butterfly from yesterday!' _

_Out of ecstasy from finally finding the new 'friend' his brother and he had made the day before, he peeked at it, trying to locate its position, to call it out so that he could show it to his brother. _

_Then, he saw his worst nightmare yet. _

_Under the shadows of the leaves, the butterfly, caught helplessly on a spider web, was slowly bitten by a huge crimson spider, almost the size of his palm. Slowly... slowly forcing its big, long teeth into the flesh of the helplessly struggling butterfly... _

_His pupils dilated. His heart was thumping rapidly, and it felt as if his chest was hurting. Droplets of water gathered in his eyes. He mustn't scream... he mustn't _scream_, lest his brother come running for him... Deep in his heart, he knew; he understood, that he must not let his other witness this... _

_Leisurely sinking its teeth, as if it was chewing on its prey, the spider seemed like it was having fun making the butterfly hurt like that. The fragile little insect gradually stopped its struggle to live, until it wasn't moving anymore. Then the spider let it go. _

_He shook as he fell to sit on the grass underneath him. The little child could not comprehend what he was looking at. Even with his inhumanly high IQ, his mind was going through an overdrive. The butterfly must have hurt a lot with the big bite holes in its body, right? Rem... Rem said that rest is the best remedy to an injury, so that should explain why the butterfly stopped moving, right? Right...? But... why wasn't it moving at all? It shouldn't have been... _

_Still in his confusion, he watched in his horror as the red spider weaved its threads around the butterfly. Little by little, the silky strand covered up the helpless and unmoving little being, until none of the beautiful wings could be seen anymore. The spider then proceeded to mend its net, preparing for the capture of another prey. _

_The child watched on, until the end. He just sat there, eyes blank, breath labored, sweating, shivering uncontrollably. The only thought in his frightened, innocent mind was, 'What... happened... The butterfly... Red...Spider... Did it...?' _

_He didn't know how long he had stayed there, eyes transfixed onto the small white cocoon that was the blue butterfly. His eyes and mind, blank. The next thing he remembered seeing was the beautiful eyes of his brother, on his knees in front of him, looking at him with worry, inquiring about what happened to him. Realizing that his brother was getting up, most probably to search for the source of his distress, he grabbed him at the sleeves and roughly pulled him into a desperate embrace. His brother stilled, and slowly called out his name in worry. He didn't give a reply, as all his attention was on the spider. _

_The spider had acquired another victim, caught in its net. This time, a butterfly as well, wings with the color of translucent green... _

_He felt his brother hugging him back, heard his brother trying to talk to him, reason with him, wanting to know what had occurred, for he was acting so strangely. But he didn't listen. His eyes widened even more as he watched blankly over his brother's shoulder as the spider sank its huge teeth into the poor butterfly, repeating a torture he painfully witnessed before all over again... _

_He tightened his grip onto his brother, pulling him into sitting on his lap, ignoring the small protest of embarrassment from his brother, who was saying something like they were too big to be hugging like this. But his brother didn't try to pull away, rather embraced him back and smoothed at his hair, comforting him in the way Rem always did to help them sleep at night. Resting his face between the crooks of long neck, basking in the familiar scent and warmth of his brother, he was able to slowly piece himself back together. Slowly. _

_He couldn't let his brother see his treasured butterflies being eaten one by one by the evil spider... He mustn't let the spider see his beautiful brother, for it may try to eat his brother as well, as it did with the beautiful butterflies... _

_He glowered in revulsion at the scarlet spider, tears threatening to fall from the long lashes of his eyes. _

'_No one has the right to take the life of others.' _

_He must protect his brother, whatever the cost. _

_The day after, the rose bush came to witness the absence of one of its many inhabitants. A sticky web, the nest for the said inhabitant, was not in sight. As if it was misplaced. As if it had never existed. Legs were separated from body and were scattered all around the place, inarticulate to the naked eyes. The body itself was beheaded and separated by segments, hurled away at different directions, with no chance to be reunited again. _

_The inhabitant: the crimson spider; it was never to be seen again. _

_On a small dune were two fresh small graves, just perfect for certain pretty flying insects; covered with petals of geraniums. _

_A child gazed blankly at the upturned ground, gripping his filth-covered hands in tight fists. _

_He raised his head slightly as he heard his name from a distance, and focused his still dilating eyes to the direction of the easily recognizable voice, seeing none other than his brother searching and calling out his name not too far from him. The only thing that separated them was thirty-seven feet of green grassland and his brother still didn't see him standing all alone on the heightened ground. That was so like him... _

_He pasted a smile onto his face. A pure, happy smile. Then he ran to his brother, tackling him down to the ground with a battle roar. They tumbled and rolled down the dune together, giggling and yelling as they wrestled at each other playfully until both ran out of energy. _

'_We must make the smallest sacrifice possible at the given time.' _

_Gazing down at his brother, panting and laughing breathlessly under him, he knew that he would never regret the sacrifice he made to let his brother live. And he would repeat it; over and over and over again if necessary. He didn't care if the happiness he sought for had to be built on top of countless sacrifices, as long as he could build that one perfect place. Where sacrifices would no longer be needed. Where he was sure that his brother would always be safe. _

_His memory of the phrases in the book he barely finished reading jumped into his head. _

'_A land of myth. There will be nothing but peaceful days, with no wars, nor stealing; an Eden where people can live as people.' _

_Eden. _

_Even if it was a myth, he would make it a reality. That was his lifetime promise. _

_For the sake of his brother, he would make Eden come true, whatever the cost. _

_He hugged his brother – his world, his treasure, his _everything_ – with his ear close to his other's heart, hearing, feeling the merry jumps and beats of life. That his dearest was still, indeed, living. _

_And grinned maniacally. _

'_I'll do just anything for your sake, brother. Anything...' _

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Knives raised his wine glass high, blue irises undulating in the darkness of the room, gazing into his blood red wine with azure eyes colder and darker than winter nights.

"Even now, brother. For you only. Until forever, and ever, and ever..."

A few moments later, the sound of glass shattering, and a laughter, bone-chilling to anyone unfortunate enough to hear it, emanated long and loud throughout the dark building.

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A/N 2: And the evilest Plant Angel was born... MUA HA HA HA HA HA--- _(cackles and tries to pull out a ghostly creepy face. Trying to,) – _HA HA HA H—OWW! Bit mah tong--!!_ (and failing miserably.)_

...really, this Knives is more like the manga-Knives rather than the anime-Knives. A lot of dissimilarities there. _Believe me_. Try reading the manga if you've already watched the anime, or vice versa. You'd be surprised by the difference in the character build. Oh well... _(shrugs)_

By the way, I borrowed a few canon verses from the anime. Chocolate chip cookies if you know which and how many! XD _(grins)_


End file.
